The United States has the longest, most expensive medical-education system in the developed world resulting in the lowest number of physicians per capita.
“By the time Elizabeth Erickson was a freshman at Davidson College in 2002, she knew she wanted to become a doctor. Because she understood that the earliest health interventions are among the most important, she set herself on a pediatrics track. After four years of premed classes, she went straight to medical school at Wake Forest University, which took another four years. Then came three years of residency at Duke University, plus one final year as chief resident. In 2014, she joined the faculty of Duke’s School of Medicine. Her dream was realized at the steep price of 12 consecutive years of learning and training, plus about $400,000 of debt.” Via The Atlantic
Why does the US make it so difficult to practice medicine? In the 20th century medical groups claimed that America had an oversupply of physicians. In response, from 1980-2005, America restricted medical school class sizes and the number of matriculants flatlined. Today, we are still feeling the affects of this protocol.